1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for performing assays; and more particularly relates to a method and apparatus for performing chemical, biological or biochemical assays using microfluidic technology.
2. Brief Description of Related Art
One of the primary factors affecting the data quality of a multiplexed system is biological cross reactivity, which is caused when multiple analytes and a multi-reagent detection cocktail are mixed in a single reaction vessel. For example, in a protein assay, the mixing of analytes (proteins) and the detection cocktail (labeled antibodies) can result in unintended secondary cross-reactions or interference that distort the measurements and severely compromise data quality. This biological cross reactivity can be mitigated by attempting to design the assay with components that do not negatively react; however, this becomes increasingly impractical and difficult (due to the high number of variables introduced) as the multiplex level increases. Moreover, even for sets of antibodies in the assay with components that do not negatively react, the multiplexed result is still typically relative to the performance of any one of the individual components, due to the application of a common assay buffer across all of the antibodies, which is typically not the optimal buffer with respect to pH, salinity, etc for each of the antibodies.